Return from Columbia / Play It -The Smarties
Back from filming in Columbia, Mo, where the following photo was taken in The Blue Note, one of Columbia's better clubs...
Since I started this whole music blog off about a mystery band that quickly turned out not to be such a mystery (now that technology has enabled any one of us to post about literally anything), it seems fitting that the Journey To The Smarties ends very happily... when Craig Bostick signed in and agreed to answer questions, it was far more than I ever expected - that still left that elusive CD to find (well, a cassette tape too, but I'm not that obsessive anymore).
Of course, after years of searching e-Bay, and finding nothing, I make one small post about a band no one I know has heard of, and people come out of the woodwork - no exception here. A couple of days after sending questions to Craig about the band, I make another random search on eBay and finally, hit paydirt. Someone in New Hampshire, of all places, has it up for auction at a reasonable price.
So, after 10 years after its release (1996) and several years of searching for more material, does the album hold up well & was it worth all the trouble searching for it? Being a fan of upbeat songs like those of The Go-Go's, Josie Cotton & The B-52's, I think that it holds up quite well, especially when in that company... it's one of the better 'summer' albums that I've found; with songs like "Sundazed", "Loved and Lost Her (In A Flying Saucer)", "Hero of the Beach", it'll get lots of play along with the Joe "King" Carrasco songs I've found. That it comes from a band in Southern MO instead of L.A. makes it even more wonderful - I'd be tempted to look for beach parties in the Springfield area after several listens.
It's hard to find... hell, it took me several years to even know there was a CD... but if you come across it, grab it! You can also find clips at The Smarties MySpace.com page, and if you do some hard searching on various Internet music sites, you may hit some paydirt.
Since I started this whole music blog off about a mystery band that quickly turned out not to be such a mystery (now that technology has enabled any one of us to post about literally anything), it seems fitting that the Journey To The Smarties ends very happily... when Craig Bostick signed in and agreed to answer questions, it was far more than I ever expected - that still left that elusive CD to find (well, a cassette tape too, but I'm not that obsessive anymore).
Of course, after years of searching e-Bay, and finding nothing, I make one small post about a band no one I know has heard of, and people come out of the woodwork - no exception here. A couple of days after sending questions to Craig about the band, I make another random search on eBay and finally, hit paydirt. Someone in New Hampshire, of all places, has it up for auction at a reasonable price.
So, after 10 years after its release (1996) and several years of searching for more material, does the album hold up well & was it worth all the trouble searching for it? Being a fan of upbeat songs like those of The Go-Go's, Josie Cotton & The B-52's, I think that it holds up quite well, especially when in that company... it's one of the better 'summer' albums that I've found; with songs like "Sundazed", "Loved and Lost Her (In A Flying Saucer)", "Hero of the Beach", it'll get lots of play along with the Joe "King" Carrasco songs I've found. That it comes from a band in Southern MO instead of L.A. makes it even more wonderful - I'd be tempted to look for beach parties in the Springfield area after several listens.
It's hard to find... hell, it took me several years to even know there was a CD... but if you come across it, grab it! You can also find clips at The Smarties MySpace.com page, and if you do some hard searching on various Internet music sites, you may hit some paydirt.
Labels: Rock, The Smarties
posted by L. Rob Hubb | 10:41 PM
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